Aug 31, 2009
Aug 29, 2009
Aug 28, 2009
Aug 27, 2009
Aug 26, 2009
Aug 25, 2009
B. Bravo “Midnite”
Method Man & Redman “Dangerous Mcees” (cookin soul remix)
Che Grand “People Bowling” (feat. Tanya Morgan)
Mos Def “Auditorium” (feat. Slick Rick)
DJ Mitsu “Get ‘Em Up” (feat. Elzhi)
Amerie “Why R U”
Kan Kick “I’m Going To Take U Out To Dinner”
GB “Dealer Dog”
Morgan Zarate “Satin White”
Kenlo “Pont”
Jay Dee “Come Get It”
Freddie Joachim “Silent”
Raheem DeVaughn “Wanna Love You” (feat Young Chris)
Slum Village “Cloud 9″ (feat. Marsha Ambrosius)
DJ Spinna “Guaranteed” (feat. Phonte & Yahzarah)
Reggie B “Spirtual Fi”
Zo! & Asylum 7 “The Lineup” (feat. Metasyons, Finale & Buff)
Karriem Riggins “I Want You”
Byron The Aquarius “Repetitive” (feat. Daru & Da Button Pusha)
Lunice “This Time”
Onra “My Comet”
Floyd The Locsmif “Fuzzy Navel”
Afta-1 “Flor Y Uva
Nicolay “Lose Your Way” (feat. Carlitta Durand)
In celebration of the 5th anniversary of the release of The Foreign Exchange's debut album 'Connected', we have a very special 'Off The Shelf' installment for you today!
At the end of January 2005, on the heels of a sold-out performance at London's Jazz Cafe, Little Brother/The Foreign Exchange (consisting of Phonte, Rapper Big Pooh, Nicolay, Yahzarah, Darien Brockington and DJ Flash) recorded a live-in-studio session for Gilles Peterson's Worldwide show on BBC Radio 1 (United Kingdom). Originally, the BBC Radio 1 only aired the two Foreign Exchange tracks, 'Come Around' and 'Sincere', but we are now presenting this session in its entirety. Enjoy!
Thanks for listening,
Nicolay-- [ SOURCE ]
01 Speed (Little Brother)
02 The Way You Do It (Little Brother)
03 Come Around (The Foreign Exchange)
04 Sincere (The Foreign Exchange)
Vocals by Phonte, Rapper Big Pooh, Yahzarah and Darien Brockington | Keyboards by Nicolay | DJ Flash on the decks | January 2005
Aug 24, 2009
Aug 21, 2009
Aug 20, 2009
Aug 18, 2009
Shibuya'... signed, sealed and delivered...
As we count the days until the release of 'City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya', we are pleased to bring you the OFFICIAL CD Pre-order. Our exclusive pre-order package includes an autographed copy of 'Shibuya', a free 'Shibuya' poster and two free 'Shibuya' stickers. All for the low price of $12.98 (excl. shipping & handling).
NOTE: there is a limited amount of pre-order packages available, so pre-order now if you want to make sure you don't miss out on yours!
Connecticut's world famous rhyme wrecker returns with a warm hug and a deadly snakebite on his sophomore full length album, "Wanna Snuggle?" Apathy, known as lead MC of the indie fan favorite Demigodz clique as well as a member of Jedi Mind Tricks' Army of the Pharaohs crew, follows up 2006's well-received Babygrande Records "Eastern Philosophy" debut with a brand new masterpiece of 21 songs. Painstaking lyricism, strangleholding mic presence, high caliber rap flows and upper echelon neck-snapping production round out this release in true Demigodzilla fashion. Some of the highlights include the uptempo "Shoot First", which is a Mike Shinoda produced track featuring the legendary B-Real (of Cypress Hill) and Celph Titled, as well as a collaboration with J-Live called "This Is The Formula". Little Brother's own Phonte makes a cameo on "True Love", and some soulful hooks are laced across the album courtesy of Chip-Fu (of Fu-Schnickens) and Wu-Tang vocalist Blue Raspberry. Also contributing a major factor to the album is singer Holly Brook, best known for Fort Minor's chart topping "Where'd You Go" single and video. Fort Minor, Get Busy Committee, Demigodz and AOTP family are definitely in full effect throughout the project, including Ryu (of Styles of Beyond), Motive, Emilio Lopez, King Magnetic, Veze Skante and more. The bulk of production is handled by Apathy himself, who has been building up a production resume producing for Tiye Phoenix, Styles of Beyond, 7L & Esoteric, Eternia, and upcoming albums from Cypress Hill and Edo G.
Aug 17, 2009
Tracklisting:
1. Torae - "Gratitude" (feat. Tiara Wiles and Oddisee)
2. Skyzoo - "So Mafuckin Soulful" (feat. Oddisee)
3. Daytona - Jealous Niggas
4. Saigon - "World War IV" (feat. Lil Fame)
5. Buckshot - "Where I Be At" (feat. Oddisee)
6. Nikki Jean - "Tell the Truth"
Aug 16, 2009
Aug 14, 2009
Aug 13, 2009
For Kam Moye, the decision to stray away from his original moniker, Supastition, and use his birth name is a reflection on the maturing subject matter and content he plans to explore on his new album. Now, his first album under the new name, Splitting Image, is due October 27 on MYX Music Label. Before the album drops, however, Kam has a special treat for those anticipating the release. Even though he believes "Step By Step" is dope, Kam says, "This is a little something to hold over the listeners. It was originally recorded for the album, but didn't quite make the cut because of me wanting more conceptual songs on the project." D.R., who serves as one of the main producers on the album, also collaborated with Kam for this track, laying the dirty, soul-inspired beat fans have grown accustomed to hearing Kam Moye spit on. While "Step By Step" might not fit the new album, it certainly stands on its own. Kam documents his plan to succeed by taking his time and doing 'this hip-hop thing' the right way, "Rappers nowadays they fightin' for space on your hard drive / Me, I'd rather have a place in the archive." Be sure to get a taste of Kam Moye's new sound, and look out for Splitting Image October 27th.
WWW.BARAKRECORDS.COM Exclusive SLUMVILLAGE VIDEO "Actin Normal" from SCRAPDIRTY on Vimeo.
1. Intro
2. Superflyness
3. Free Peedi f. Tu Phace & Beanie Sigel
4. Fresh To Death
5. Hot Shyt f. Peedi Crakk, Black Thought, Tu Phace & Wale
6. Breeze
7. Last 2 f. Freeway & Beanie Sigel
8. Not Going To Fold f. Remy Hendrix
9. Kickdrums f. Wale & Rhymefest
10. Baby Girl f. Pha
11. Rap Money f. Tom Hardy & Freeway
12. Ride With Me f. Twista
13. Sail On f. Curren$y
14. Young G Sound f. Neef
15. Grown Things f. BJ
16. Want To Love You f. Raheem DeVaughn
17. Rough Side f. Rell
Aug 12, 2009
0 Comments
INDEPENDENT WEEKLY: This seems like a very no-holds-barred project where everyone is just getting some very angry shit off their chest. What’s the reason for the collaboration? Who’s idea was this?
JOE SCUDDA: It was Pooh and Big Dho’s idea. You gotta keep shit in peoples’ iPods nowadays. You have to pump mad shit out. It took about five days. It was just us straight spittin’ and gotdamn rappin. There was no rhyme or reason to the shit, so we were just running around in the studio. It was a platform for everybody to showcase where they’re at right now with their bars. It’s just straight rap. It’s just us going in and jacking somebody’s beat. But we didn’t aimlessly rap over joints. We reworked some songs and had a little fun with it. We took the Jamie Foxx song “Blame It (On The Alcohol)” and talked about girls with no “Ass-At-All.” [Editor's Note: Really?] We just wilded out and banged out a damn mixtape.
Why not just make this an official album? It seems like the whole mixtape idea is a little played out.
We took a whole bunch of people beats that aren’t ours.
Seems like this idea of a supergroup was put together before with the “Slaughterhouse” project. Would you call this that, or was it just a matter of four friends making a fun album?
I read a lot of the stuff that’s on the blogs, and people are always like, “Oh great, another supergroup” or, “These muhfuckas are trying to do the Slaughterhouse thing.” For one, it wasn’t like we were all separate dudes that had our own crews and didn’t fuck with each other. This is all H.O.J. [Hall of Justus] shit anyway. We didn’t fabricate a group. Two, it wasn’t thought-out and planned. Everybody can rap. You got Chaundon on there givin’ you the punchlines. You got Pooh steppin’ his game up crazy. He was already nice, but now he’s on another level. Jozeemo is bringing it extra hard. Me, I’m just talking shit, like I’m normally doing.
Even though this is a mixtape, this is probably the first project with other emcees that you’re a part of where you’re not just the “guest artist.” Does this mean that we’re on the way to seeing an actual solo LP from you?
The solo is pretty much finished. We probably just have a couple of more joints to do. It should have already been done. It’s 90 percent done. I got a record I’m doing with Statik Selektah.We’re already halfway done with that.
Is that gonna be an album or a mixtape?
Nah, that’s gonna be an album. Statik’s doing the beats. I’m rapping. Pooh is doing a project with Black Milk and . . . I’m trippin', I almost forgot: We’re about to drop the Triple Play 2 EP, which is me, Chaundon and Jozeemo. I don’t know if you remember a couple of years ago when we dropped Triple Play and it was The Away Team, Pooh and L.E.G.A.C.Y. We’re doing Triple Play 2 with me Chaundon and Jozeemo. Each of us have four songs on there. Out of all the songs on Reservoir Dogs, we each put all of our individual singles from Triple Play 2 on Reservoir Dogs.
Four emcees is enough, but did you guys manage to sneak in any guest appearances?
We got one guest: Darien Brockington singing a hook, that’s it.
Did you assign yourselves characters from the actual movie, Reservoir Dogs. Which “Mister” are you? You sort of remind of Mr. Blonde just because he seemed to have the most style.
It’s funny you say that: As far as the visual aspect, we kept it true to the movie, but as far as the music, it’s basically us just doing what they did in the movie. But we’re gonna shoot videos for the mixtape which will be true to the movie. Actually, if we’d planned it out tremendously, we would have done it and probably wrote it as those characters. But we went in to it as a mixtape, banged that out and then we’re like, “Well, now what do we call it?”
You got your hands dirty in the acting arena with an appearance in The Shield. Do you plan on pursuing acting more in the future?
I got my hands a little dirty. I should have got more dirty than I did. I didn’t really go hard like I should have after The Shield. I’m gonna dig into that real good after all these albums get put out because that shit was super fun and checks keep comin' when you act.
On Reservoir Dog’s first single, “Family Affair,” your voice sounds different. Did you do this on purpose? You’re not pulling an Eminem stunt on us where you put on an unusual accent all of a sudden, are you?
It’s probably all these gotdamn cigarettes I be smoking. It changed up a little bit, man. When you first start rappin’, you just rap. But then you get more involved in what you’re doing, and you start mastering your craft, and you fall into what works best for you and what sounds good to you. I rap more like how I talk now. When everybody first heard me, I was fresh out. I hadn’t been rapping but for a couple of years—the rapping came out however it came out. But now I rap like how you would hear me talk.
"Wuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
The Wu was in the building and TX always has love for the Clan, even if they've been getting some publicity for drama lately. First, though, we hit up Daisy Power Studios to get some work in with the homie Cientifiq. He guest starred in our latest video, Pay Us No Mind, and he's working on his EP, hot beats and rhymes. Definitely be on the lookout for Cientifiq & Crew54 collaborations in the future.
Then G-Christ made it out to Emo's, braving the sold out crowds and hell fire heat, to check out the show. Gotta give the nod to Cali Zack and N/A Productions for doing the local opener thing and putting it down. Then Duo Live introduced themselves to the sweaty TX hip-hop crowd. Then the Iron Man himself, Ghostface Killah, came out and ran through his long list of classic Wu-Bangers. To cap the night Redman and Method Man got the crowd into even more of a frenzy. Emo's is damn near their second home, and this night was no difference, they ripped it.
After you check out the latest blog, do us a favor and check out the latest video produced by the fam O.G. of Luxurymindz. This guy is one of the most phenominal photogs out there and he has been lending his brilliant imagery to some of ATX's top rated talent. This time its a song by Pimpin Pen called Lil Homie. There is a story here, make sure you check it out.
Aug 11, 2009
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Aug 10, 2009
Aug 7, 2009
I woke up yesterday morning feeling very inspired and felt that it was necessary to share my love and appreciation for a crew that was a heavy influence on my music. These kats pretty much changed the way that I listened to and heard hip-hop as a whole... One of my favorite SV joints is "The Look Of Love" (yes... ALL versions of it) ...This is the J-88 Remix version - the 12" vinyl joint with the light blue 'Superrappin' Cover art. Sometimes I'm not always that great at putting things into words exactly the way that I'd like, I'd rather play and create instead. With that being said, Baatin and Dilla... we miss y'all and will continue to hold your legacies down properly. T3 and El, y'all are always family this way... Respect due.-- [ SOURCE ]0 Comments
Aug 6, 2009
VohnBeatz and M-Pak presents Peer Pressure (The Mixtape Trailer) from symbolyc on Vimeo.
What it is kinfolk, just wanted to drop off this weeks 54 Reality Show, even if its a tad bit late. We've been so busy pushing out the Pay Us No Mind video we forgot to shoot this weeks episode of the blog out. It's packed to the top with performances from Sleep of Oldiminion, Pac Div, B.O.B., Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, Bill Ray, and De La Soul. Plus we got some funny outtakes from the Pay Us No Mind Video to round it out.0 Comments
Aug 5, 2009
Went ahead and leaked this one on out. It was gonna be on my project, but blaah whatever. I think its dope. I took one of my favorite songs by Donny Hathaway and spit that real over it. He spoke on the good about love, I spoke on the bad about it. Hope you enjoy.
Aug 4, 2009
Aug 3, 2009
Part I:
First I must say, it was an honor to be blessed with the ability to put something like this together of course with the willingness of Phonte and Baatin. There have been many interviews that have opened people’s eyes to many different things about life. Well this is an example of living life through the music. We all have heard the popular mainstream track This is Why I’m Hot by M.I.M.S. which of course stands for music is my savoir. Well for Baatin he could be a lot of other places right now, but fortunately he’s right where he needs to be, in the studio. In this first of a two part conversation Phonte discusses with Baatin the impact that Slum Village had on hip hop, the constant label shifting, and dealing with the success of making a mark as well as the pressure of going platinum on the very next album, and finally the reality of just how similar SV is to LB when comparing the life cycle of two dynamic groups with an innovative producers.
Phonte: First thing I always wanted to know, in the liner notes of D’Angelo’s Voodoo, Saul Williams talks a lot of times about how artists have to serve as their own inspiration and once you listen to all your Tribe records and all your Public Enemy records you have to serve as your own inspiration. He also said that if Prince heard "How Does It Feel" by D’Angelo would he feel ripped off or inspired? With that said when you first heard Little Brother(laughs) did you feel like we were ripping ya’ll off or did you feel inspired?
Baatin: Oh not at all, there was a lot of buzz going around about Little Brother when ya’lls first joint dropped and I kind of took it as dang that’s tight and I thought ya’ll were in a whole bracket of ya’ll own. More lyrical as well, we were kind of doing the freestyle spontaneous type stuff. Once I heard Little Brother the lyrical content and the production kind of separated what people were talking about but the comparisons was honors to hear.
Phonte: When "Vol. 2" dropped it was literally one of the albums that changed my life. A lot of times people would ask me what was going our minds when we created it. My question for you would be when ya’ll were making "Vol. 2" and if you need to go back to "Vol. 1" that’s cool to; but when ya’ll were making it did ya’ll have any idea what ya’ll were on to or were ya’ll just f*ckin around and having fun and it grew legs on its own?
Baatin: I don’t know if we could say we were starting a movement or not, but we knew we had a distinct sound that differed from everybody but we had elements from all the giants that you mentioned in the beginning like Tribe, De La, Jungle Brothers, Showbiz & A.G., Extra P, and we had our vitamins from all of their albums and we just did our own thing. We would listen to the tracks back and forth and be like this is some other sh*t. We would go straight down to the club and let them play it the same night we did the song and sure enough we had our own little vibe. So I would say yes we did know, but as far as the movement me personally I did not know. Dilla probably had it in his head like yeah I know what I’m going to do with this production thing and his vision and he executed to it.
Phonte: We all heard the folklore about "Vol.2" and people [were] saying Dilla made the beat for ‘Players’ in 92, and it can get out of hand on the internet but so I want to hear it from the source. How old were a lot of those tracks what was the timeline for recording that particular joint?
Baatin: I would say like 95-96 a lot of the joints like "I Don’t Know," "Fantastic," and some of the songs from "Vol. 2" were on "Vol. 1." We put "Vol. 2" together in like 95-96 the songs from "Vol. 1" were accumulating and that was long after our name was changed to Slum, which came out to be about 35 songs to be exact and 23 made the "Vol. 1" album. In the time period "Players", "Get Dis’ Money," was probably the last one. "Rock Music," "2U4U," "I Don’t Know" from "Vol. 1" made "Vol. 2."
Phonte: Explain how the whole thing happened with Interscope and A&M and that situation because the first time I heard "Get Dis’ Money" was at the time when Jay Dee was making noise of off Beats Rhymes and Life, Pharcyde and so forth, so I was copping anything that had his name on it like he could have done a polka record and I would have bought it. I heard a interview regarding "Vol. 2" where they were say that, that was on Interscope, so what happened with the label changes?
Baatin: Well Barack which was the label that signed us and Interscope was the first record label who picked us up and they signed us off of this song that was a compilation called "Rock Music," "Rock Music" was on "Vol. 1" the remix of "Rock Music" made this compilation. Interscope heard and they felt it and they gave it a shot. So Interscope signed us and something happened where Atomic Pop the internet label had started a record company. It was one of the biggest internet website companies in the world. They bought us out of the Interscope deal. Next thing you know we’re with Atomic Pop and Goodvibe. So we went through four different labels to be exact. So Vol.2 is probably sold through like five different companies.
Phonte: The parallels between Little Brother and Slum Village are similar in a lot of ways in which we will talk about (laughs). Watching ya’ll and seeing the cycle of how things go I really think ya’ll set the model in a lot of ways for a lack of a better term the “internet group”, being in that you have a group that comes in on some grassroots type sh*t and you have everybody buzzing about them like crazy and then the album drops and they hold you up to be the next Jesus out of Detroit, I see that as the Fantastic Vol. 2 period as that being one of ya’ll periods. With that, when the Listening came out for us sh*t was happening real fast so just explain to me what was life like for ya’ll when Fantastic Vol.2 came out for ya’ll.
Baatin: Oh my God, me personally I was kind of in another zone soul searching at the time. So at the time the success and praise from the album and all the promotion kind of caught me by surprise but we didn’t know that the doors would be open for us to be international, we didn’t see the vision. For one we were in our own zone making this music for ourselves and we really didn’t want to get out of the vibe we were in. That’s why I went through the experience I went through because it caught me off guard.
Phonte: There seems to be a curse with groups that have in house producers (laughs) specifically what happened with Little Brother and 9th Wonder and Slum and Dilla, hell Guru and Premo. From interviews I’ve read and stuff that has happened within my own group I can kind of piece together what happened but tell me exactly what happened that lead to the deterioration of the relationship between ya’ll and Dilla.
Baatin: I really can’t say it was a deterioration but we kind of parted ways. Dilla had a lot on his table, he was full time production house for UMA. So by the time Slum had a deal in '99, Dilla was like, "I can’t really sign this contract," because he had so much on the table so he kind of pushed away from the Slum business aspect and stayed in his own circle and kept with his own production, but he toured with us for part of that time and we did our thing but that’s pretty much what was happening and he had a lot on his plate already but he made sure we got on and had a solid album. That’s why a lot of the songs from "Vol. 1" made "Vol. 2" because we kind of put "Vol. 1" vibe into "Vol. 2" and polished it up a little bit. He was like ya’ll tight now, off and running, got the publishing deal.
Phonte: By the time "Vol. 2" dropped was he pretty much doing his own thing?
Baatin: Way before "Vol. 2", like '95 when he had the Busta Rhymes remixes, the Masta Ace remix and the Tribe albums. You know two of the Tribe albums he was constantly working. We were still in the studio during those years, we got our first check from the record biz from Dilla. Like damn we’re officially rappers now (laughs).
Phonte: I know for me being in a group with a producer, trying to explain it to people on the outside, a lot of people think the emcees get jealous. Like man their probably jealous because the producer is making more money than them. My thing is just from studying hip hop and the history any producer that is worth a damn is going to eventually go off and do their own thing. With ya’ll relationship with Dilla and his outside production work assuming that it was the same way as it was for us, what was the moment or many moments when ya’ll was like damn our man is really doing it?
Baatin: It was Tribe and Busta Rhymes, and his connection with Ahmir (Questlove) at that time as well as Common and De La that’s when we knew; and the Busta remix that Tip hooked up, we knew that he was really on.
Phonte: Explain to me the remix that came out, it was a Daft Punk joint, and this is the story I heard. Thomas Bangalter who did the "Raise It Up" sample. He heard the sample found the record and was like instead of me suing these cats I’ll just get them to do a remix for me because he liked the "Raise It Up" record.
Baatin: When they finally connected it was all cool.
Phonte: Moving to the Trinity album, one of my favorite songs on the album was the "Reunion" song. First of all I bought the album as a fan, but out of all the albums Trinity was my least favorite. It wasn’t so much that Dilla was gone and I even talked to El (Elzhi) from way back and he was saying it was just a real confusing time. What was the state of your life in particularly when you were doing the Trinity record?
Baatin: Pressure man, we were touring for three years straight and that ain’t no pressure but you know how it gets on tour.
Phonte: It’s a real f*cked up lifestyle and that sh*t gets old and it’s a real lonely place.
Baatin: Capitol picked up Trinity, and the pressure was to try and push Slum Village to the commercial market. Timbaland was doing a lot of remixes, Tweet, Truth Hurts were hot so they were trying to put us in the market of a lot of that hot R&B type stuff with catchy singing hooks. It wasn’t unison in our creative ideas together on making a solid album. Then Dilla wasn’t in the picture and cats was feeling the wrath from that, so it was a lot of pressure to top that first album.
Phonte: Sounds familiar (laughs)!-- [ SOURCE ]
Part II:
Phonte: Working with the Trinity record, how exactly did Elzhi come into the fold and do you think that was a good thing for the unit?
Baatin: It could’ve been for the better if we were cohesive in our creative part. Initially he was supposed to be on the album on just one song and not me and T3 on every song. Next thing you know, we were like why not just make him part of the group.
Phonte: Was that more of a call on T’s part to make him a part of the group?
Baatin: It was T’s call because he had initially brought him in the picture as his artist. So he was managing him and his career, next thing you know he did ‘Tainted’ and another song and he started writing verses to additional songs.
Phonte: By the time the Trinity album was finished had you left the group, or you left after the album came out, how exactly did that work?
Baatin: Well we came back from a tour and we sat down and we’re like we need to start making plans to make moves on our own to keep ourselves going. I had some business issues that I was stressing on and I came up to the studio and was like, “Yo, if I don’t have my own personal lawyer or manager, then ya’ll won’t see me for a while.” So they took what I said literally and ran with it.
Phonte: Was that more between you, T3 and Elzhi or was that between you and Barak and RJ?
Baatin: It was between me and RJ; so little bit with management and my concerns with the label. So I trusted that T3 would carry on and finish the contract but me not thinking I left and separated myself from a contractual agreement which left me really in the dark.
Phonte: So how many albums were ya’ll signed to Barak for and how did it that all workout with Capitol picking ya’ll up?
Baatin: I think it was six to ten albums. We were on our second including the EP’s, 12inches’ and singles. So we were somewhere around the middle of the albums we were supposed to do. So we were kind of sitting still for a minute but constantly working and we put the second one together. When we got with Capitol we had about four or five albums left.
Phonte: So the money went to RJ and them first and then to ya’ll?
Baatin: Yeah we had individual relationships with our [attorneys]. Cats were getting second hand information from unknown sources and then the divide & conquer came into play. You know how it is when a label pulls you to the side and says, “Yeah Phonte, you’re the Bob Marley of Little Brother.” (laughs).
Phonte: Do you think signing with Capitol was a bad move?
Baatin: Yeah for the pressure we were under to sell so many records, yeah that was a bad move. It took us out of our own vibe where we started. We were making music to please a company and we kind of forgot where we came from. At least I did, I was kind of lost in the clouds somewhere.
Phonte: Yeah, the joint Elzhi wrote on the ‘Reunion’ which was on the Detroit Deli album had Dilla, T3 and Elzhion the track and he (Elzhi) was pretty much just writing: Tell exactly what was he referencing?
{Elzhi's verse from Slum Village's ironically titled "Reunion"}
"Yo T kill’n em, Three kill’n ‘em
You thought we broke up and ya you rite we really did
I wrote a verse that I recited it was hot
But I had to rewrite cuz I thought we was united and we not
But though all the love that I got for you
Parna I picked apart ya words and I’m shooked in them interviews
I been accused of not carin
When the city threw your furniture out
Its not fair when I’m learnin about how stress you fell in a article
Forget a rhyme I’m just as real when I talk to you
And you know that we share Kodak moments
I wish we could go back
But don’t act like you wasn’t bug’n out like a phone tap
Chase’n cars in the street
I saw you throw a part in the sink
After hit the bar for a drink who asked you to slow down?
Even though niggaz told me you was gon’ clown
You didn’t know I cried when I saw you whallen at the State Theater
In the door by the side
Throw you in the trunk and found a preacher for you
Cause I thought you had unlawful demons on you
Sink’n fast in the deepest soil
Ya parents finally got you some help
You came out seem’n normal and
I heard you on medication
Had a illness you couldn’t heal with herbs and meditation
And believe me; Me and T, Three kept it low
Don’t take this as a dis this is just to let you kno that I love you
But watch the company you keep
Sware niggaz don’t care, but they love you in the streets
Get ya mind right nigga..."
Baatin: I wasn’t diagnosed with schizophrenia until after my furniture was put out. That was three days before my furniture got put out he was talking about the incident that happened at the State Theatre. Next thing you know I’m back in my [mom's] crib chasing cars.
Phonte: How exactly was your furniture getting thrown out was it a rent thing, what was that?
Baatin: Well three months had passed and the break thing I had mentioned at the studio, went from a week to two weeks, to a month to two months, loosing my child’s mother and loosing my son. Nothing was broken and there was no violence or anything like that, it was just my mental problem to have the ability to persevere through that was shot. So I had to go with the fall…ah man, he(Elzhi) was on point with everything he said …a voice came to me and was like Baatin you have reached a certain plateau in spirituality before I first came to the studio and warned them about the lawyer thing; he(the voice) was like you have a choice, you can stay in this situation and continue or go on your own and leave and take another journey and the few years that passed were a struggle.
Phonte: So during that three month period where you stepped off from the group there was no shows or money coming in, you were just on your own?
Baatin: Just me in the house by myself just sick with it, I don’t known what particularly was going on but you know the affects of spitting controversial lyrics that may offend religious people or different types of people that listen to music? When the pressure came back from me from things I said, reaping what I sow.
Phonte: What was it particularly, because for me just reading the interview that Ahmir had wrote for Like Water for Chocolate, when ya’ll did the "Thelonious" joint he wanted to censor a lot of ya’lls verses because ya’ll were talking about b*tches and hoes, and ya’ll were just getting it how ya’ll get it. Was it the misogyny in some of the lyrics or was it something else?
Baatin: It was really me exaggerating and they call that paranoia. It was so easy for me to exaggerate and put the blame on something outside of myself but I was really dealing with my inner demons.
Phonte: It makes sense because whoever you are as a person all this business does is multiply that times ten. If you’re a really shy person, once you get in front of a million people yeah you might do your job and sing in front of a million people but once the lights go off you just become more withdrawn. At the same time if you’re the party all the time with 10 dollars sh*t!
Baatin: The habits do multiply. I tell cats that all the time!
Phonte: I’ve read a few articles regarding your battle with schizophrenia. I haven’t really dealt with a lot of people who have mental illness in my family or close friends. So if you could paint the picture of what exactly that is like and or the struggle that goes on in your mind, what is your day to day struggle in dealing with that illness?
Baatin: It’s a constant struggle as well as the side temptations that go along with that. I was diagnosed schizophrenic, bi-polar and depressed and that’s according to the hospital records. It’s the cause of all situations that result to the solution. My background growing up depressed, kind of feeling like a loser, not graduating high school, child abuse and all of that contributed to me sitting at home, my habits multiplying, me battling with religious things that I took into my consciousness; as well as me thinking maybe I’m not supposed to be paid and they say when I’m rich, and now I’m putting them in my lyrics. That contributed to me falling off in the game. So I’m drinking more and that contributed to the mental sickness. It could be hereditary as well because my father went through something similar as well as my cousin. I think it was the excessive drinking because when I started with "Vol.2," I was on a spiritual path.
Phonte: When you were talking about the spiritual path and the religious ideas that you had, what religion were you raised in, because a lot of artists struggle with the spiritual versus secular thing and I think Sam Cooke is the best example of an artist who struggled with singing for God and singing for the world. So did you ever have the struggle between your music and your religion?
Baatin: I was raised Baptist in church and that was the struggle for me. When I decided that I was going to be a conscious emcee somewhat (laughs)…
Phonte: On a side that’s funny because when we got the ball rollin with Little Brother people put those aspirations on you like if your not this then your automatically that. So because I’m not talking about bustin my guns or sellin crack than automatically I’m a tree huggin n*gga. It’s like, "Yo, I’m just a regular dude!"
Baatin: There was definitely pressure from outsides sources that influenced some of the topics in the music but it was still in our zone. The good thing about us was we always invested our experiences into our music.
Phonte: Where were you when you got the news that Jay Dee and died?
Baatin: I was in a rehabilitation center and I had went to church that Sunday. This dude came up to me and was like, “What’s up? [You're from Slum?] I love your music.” After church he came up to me and was like, “You know Jay Dee passed.” and I was like, "What?" I was in church and I hopped in a van because I had just broke my foot jumping out of a window, and three days before that my brother had died. All this happened in the beginning of 2006. That whole experience was devastating and I have just now accepted the fact that he is questing in peace.
Phonte: You mentioned you hurt your foot jumping out of a window, was that a accident or mental related?
Baatin: Depression from not being able to eat with my family on Christmas because I’m out on the street using drugs, and I went out the house and was like give me this and a couple of dollars and I’ll jump out the window. The first attempt I landed on my feet and the second time it was terrible.
Phonte: What drugs were you using?
Baatin: It was crack, terrible choice of drugs.
Phonte: This is all back in Detroit?
Baatin: Yup, all in Detroit.
Phonte: Did ya’ll have any clue about Dilla and his health? My friends and I talk believe that the output of music that he was creating made us believe that he knew the end of was coming. So did ya’ll know or did he try to hide it from ya’ll and keep it going?
Baatin: He totally kept that to himself. Years passed before we knew he was even sick. It wasn’t even a situation where we came together to hook up with my brotha. I feel like if I was in the position I could have got the group together and we could have seen what was up with Dilla, because I feel that any disease is not fatal, because I’ve done so much cleansing in my blood I feel like that could’ve been situated beyond him going to the hospital. There are ways and natural remedies to deal with that type of thing, so that’s what crushed me.
Phonte: To date have you, T3 and Elzhi talked at all?
Baatin: I talked to T3 about three weeks ago. I saw him at one of the clubs here with Dwele and we talked briefly about the tour we were supposed to do together so we have good connection now. I haven’t spoken with Elzhi in a while but we’re all still connected, there isn’t any animosity anymore.-- [ SOURCE ]
Brand new joint off the upcoming monthly EP series titled DJ K.O. Presents: Living Out A State Of Mind showcasing the entire Elementality family. This track features Silent Knight on the rhymes & an up & coming Brazilian producer by the name of Laudz.
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